Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Criminal Law Blogs -> Sentencing Law and Policy

Criminal Law

: Sentencing Law and Policy

Tough discussions in California about how to handle serious juve offenders

By Douglas A. Berman

This piece via the New York Times, which is headlined "Whither Young Offenders? The Debate Has Begun," spotlights the challenging discussions in California of what to do with a distinct set of challenging offenders. Here is an excerpt: Gov. Jerry Brown?s recent proposal to eliminate California?s Division of Juvenile Justice was billed as a way to cut $242 million from the state budget. It was also the culmination of a decade-long effort to shut the state?s troubled youth prison system, which for years has been plagued by violence, abuse and decaying facilities. Much of that effort has been centered in the Bay Area after accusations of abuse and neglect at the institutions surfaced in a 2003 Alameda County lawsuit. In recent years, some local judges often refused to send young offenders to state institutions, preferring to confine them in county facilities regarded as safer and more effective...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on January 23, 2011 (boomark / email).